Paying the Price (Book 5 of The Empire of Bones Saga)

by Terry Mixon

  “Mister Owlet.”

  The boy looked up. “Admiral! Good to see you again, sir.”

  “Did you arrange our breakout?”

  “I may have played some small part in it. Princess Elise did more.”

  Jared looked around and saw her sitting in a chair off to the side. Her leg had a bandage around it below the knee. He rushed over to her side.

  “Elise, are you okay?”

  Her smile glowed like the sun. “Thank God you’re safe. I’m not standing up. Come give me a hug.”

  He did and then looked pointedly at her leg. “How did you get hurt?”

  “Doing what needed doing. The doctor said I’d be fine. He’s working on Senator Breckenridge now.”

  “Breckenridge? What is he doing here?”

  “His part to make up for his nephew. The emperor is responding to the treatment. Doctor Stone is on her way down and she’s cautiously optimistic.”

  Jared looked around them pointedly. “I doubt she’s going to get landing permission.”

  “Probably not, but she doesn’t need it.”

  Carl stepped back from his equipment and the flat surface turned silvery. Moments later, Lily Stone stepped through.

  “Well, well. That is a surprise,” Jared said in wonder. “Remind me never to count that young man out.”

  He looked over at where Kelsey was standing beside her father. “I hope we did enough to make a difference. Any idea where Prince Ethan is?”

  “Not a clue. He’ll turn up, I’m sure.”

  * * * * *

  Kelsey watched Lily run the medical scanner over her father with her heart in her throat. “How is he?”

  Stone smiled. “The drug is slowing the poison down and the nanites are starting to repair the damage. He’s not out of the woods just yet, but he has a fighting chance now. Call it 60/40. If he makes it, I foresee a complete recovery.”

  “Will moving him lower his chances?”

  “Not appreciably. And I think we’d all be happier if we can get him up to Invincible. If he has a complication, I’ll be better able to work on him.”

  The doctor glanced over at the Imperial physician. “It looks like he has things wrapped up with Senator Breckenridge. We’ll take everyone up. Talbot! Call the pinnaces in to the university. We’re leaving.”

  “Aye, ma’am. Everyone, make sure to keep things together as we pull out. No slipups at the last moment. The outer perimeter will pull back in to extract as soon as we’re clear.”

  “What is that thing?” Kelsey asked Stone.

  “A kind of point-to-point transfer device Carl got from Omega. I have to say it came in very handy.”

  “We need to hurry. I want to know where my brother is. We have to stop him.”

  Stone looked up from where she was preparing to move the emperor to a gurney. “I know that one. They spotted the Imperial yacht leaving orbit just as I was landing. I guess he was on his way to Orbital One and changed his mind.”

  “He can’t run fast enough to stop me from kicking his ass,” Kelsey said grimly.

  She walked over to Talbot. “I need to get to Invincible as soon as possible.”

  “It should be back in orbit. Once things went down, Admiral Yeats called most of our ships back in. There are pinnaces right on the other side of that transport ring.”

  “Excellent. Come with me.”

  He shook his head. “Not until all my people are clear. You go ahead.”

  “Be careful.” She kissed him hard.

  Kelsey fell in behind the gurney as it headed for the ring and grabbed Jared by the arm. “Ethan is in orbit. We’re going up right now to catch his ass.”

  He grinned coldly. “Let’s go end this.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Jared found the trip through the ring surreal. One moment he was in the Imperial Palace and the next, he was in the fusion plant at Imperial University. Almost eighty kilometers traveled in the blink of an eye.

  The marines would withdraw from the Palace and take the rings with them. Now that the emperor was safe, Talbot said they’d move back to the emperor’s suite and set up the ring one last time to extract everyone. Carl and Angela would disassemble the large ring, pass it through a smaller one, and escape.

  They’d disabled the internal security monitors, so the remaining Imperial Guards wouldn’t know they’d relocated. That would give them enough time to get away safely. No doubt they’d wonder how the attack took place at all.

  Hopefully, the emperor would be in a forgiving mood when he woke up. Jared refused to believe the man would die after everything they’d risked.

  Once the emperor and Senator Breckenridge were aboard the pinnace, he joined Kelsey and Elise inside. He sat next to his girlfriend and hugged her as the pinnace lifted.

  “This might just turn out okay after all.”

  “Not if Ethan escapes,” she said. “We’ve both seen how even a failed coup can damage society. Imagine a civil war. The man is insane and he won’t hesitate to rip the Empire apart to slake his thirst for power.”

  Kelsey nodded sadly. “We have to stop him, Jared. If he gets away, he’ll turn people that would otherwise be loyal citizens against the Empire. We cannot afford a civil war while fighting the Rebel Empire.”

  “Even if that means killing him?”

  She sighed. “I hope it doesn’t come to that.”

  The flight up went smoothly and they docked with Invincible a few minutes later. Someone had found him a uniform to replace his prison clothes, so he took a few minutes to change before heading for the bridge. He wanted to project the right image, both for his people and Ethan Bandar.

  The flag bridge was a hive of activity as he arrived. Kelsey was already standing beside his command console. She hadn’t bothered changing.

  “Give me a status,” Jared said, as he tapped into the implant feeds and looked for himself.

  Commander Jade Winslow, his chief of staff, turned to face him. “A number of cutters left Orbital One and docked with New York half an hour ago. Apparently, Captain Breckenridge hijacked it. Most of her officers and crew were off the ship, so they couldn’t resist marine boarding parties.

  “It took us a while to realize that was what had happened. It and the Imperial yacht are already quite a distance away. Only our destroyers or fighters have a chance of catching them.”

  The officer shook her head. “And they made a really bad call. We don’t need to chase them that fast. They’re running for the Nova system flip point, sir.”

  * * * * *

  Wallace Breckenridge sat in the command chair of his new ship. A destroyer was a big step down for him, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.

  His arrival on board New York had surprised the skeleton crew and his men had managed to seize control. He wished he’d had enough people to grab something bigger, but she would do. After all, he’d be able to replace her with something much more modern very shortly.

  “Lieutenant Keller, what is the status of the Fleet vessels still in orbit?” he asked his lead man.

  The officer turned from the helm controls. “No change, sir. They’re still sitting there with those battle screens of theirs down. The Imperial yacht and we are too far away for them to catch us short of the new flip point. From there, we should be able to get to the flip point heading for Harrison’s World.”

  Breckenridge nodded with satisfaction. One of his spies had gotten a heading and distance from this flip point to the other one. They’d be able to make the trip quickly enough to arrive before Mertz. And once there, the heir would be able to leverage his rank into a new headquarters that the Bastard wouldn’t be able to budge him from.

  Honestly, he thought it was a brilliant plan and was quite pleased with it.

  “How long on the timer?” he asked.

  “Three minutes and twenty-two seconds.”

  He smiled wolfishly. The Bastard would be getting a big surprise. He wished he could see his face when the universe fell on h
im.”

  * * * * *

  Jared was just about to order Invincible out of orbit when the general quarters alarm sounded.

  Winslow hunched over her console. “Missile launch! Multiple missiles inbound at point blank range.”

  “Battle screens up,” Marcus said. “Firing beams. Impact in two…one…”

  The massive ship lurched under the explosions, but no fresh alarms wailed.

  “Status,” Jared snapped.

  “Battle screens at sixty percent,” Marcus said. “No loss of hull integrity.”

  “Who fired those missiles?”

  “No one, Admiral. They came to life near where the area New York was in her parking orbit. They must’ve pre-programmed them and ejected them.”

  Jared slowly nodded. “That’s actually pretty clever. We didn’t spot them because we weren’t looking. If you hadn’t had the battle screens ready for immediate use, they’d have sucker punched us. Scan for any other little surprises he might have left for us.”

  The AI was silent for a moment. “No other anomalies detected, Admiral.”

  “Good. Commander Winslow, signal our ships to leave orbit at flank speed. Let’s see if we can close the distance enough to talk them out of this insanity.”

  * * * * *

  Ethan sat at the command console on his yacht. He had Breckenridge on screen from New York. The officer had scraped the barrel and gotten enough men and women personally loyal to him to control the ship. Barely.

  “Are you certain this is the right way to go?” he asked the renegade Fleet officer. “Other than the basic data, we have no idea where this new flip point leads. The report was heavily restricted and I never looked into it. I had more important things on my mind.”

  “We know the important part, Highness,” the renegade Fleet officer said. “It leads to the Old Empire where they got those ships. You can order the Fleet units there to stand down. We can still turn this around. Many officers will rush to support you over the Bastard.”

  Ethan nodded. Of course they would. Except for those who had been secretly against him from the beginning. Like Breckenridge’s former executive officer. He’d have to go. There would be no more coddling traitors.

  Mertz had been diabolically clever. He’d sewn men loyal to him in so many places. Everything was a gamble. But he knew he could overawe the Fleet stooges Mertz had left at Harrison’s World. They would never defy him in person. He could turn this all around.

  “What kind of force is guarding the flip point?” he asked.

  The Fleet officer looked at his console. “A single destroyer. I’ve already sent them orders to move away from the flip point.”

  “Will they?”

  The other man laughed. “They won’t fire on the heir to the Throne, if that’s what you’re worried about. And if they don’t, I have a lot more experience than they do. I’ll take them out.”

  The commander of the Imperial yacht turned toward Ethan. “Highness, we’re receiving a signal from Fleet.”

  “Put it on the main screen,” Ethan said. “Split the view between it and Admiral Breckenridge.”

  Rather than one of the officers from the destroyer, he found himself looking at Jared Mertz and Kelsey. Mertz was in uniform, but Kelsey was still in her prison clothes. He wondered what that meant.

  “Ethan Bandar, Wallace Breckenridge, I’m ordering you to heave to and prepare to be boarded,” Mertz said sternly. “This is over. We have the emperor under our care and he’s going to survive your assassination attempt.”

  The officers on the yacht bridge all looked up at that, shock clearly written on their faces.

  Ethan sneered. “You don’t frighten me, Bastard. This fight is far from over. If you think you can just fire on the heir to the Throne, you’re very much mistaken. The people would rise up against you.”

  He smiled a little wider. “Even if what you said just now were true. Which of course it isn’t, the Empire would go up like a tinderbox. No matter what you do, you lose.”

  * * * * *

  Kelsey sighed. “He’s right, Jared. Blowing him up would tear the Empire apart.” She stared at her brother for a long moment. “Let him go.”

  Jared turned to her, surprise written all over his face. “But—”

  She felt hollow inside as she held up her hand. “This is my decision to make. It’s the best thing for the Empire if we don’t stop him.”

  Kelsey kept her eyes steady on Ethan’s smirking face. “Make no mistake, anyone taking that flip with you is guilty of treason and subject to death. No warning and no quarter. Your crew doesn’t know what you’re asking of them. Give them a choice to leave.”

  Ethan laughed. “They swore their lives to serve the emperor. They know where their place is. But, if any cowards want to scamper away, good riddance.”

  He smiled nastily at her. “We’ll meet again, dearest sister. And sooner than you think.”

  “Make your peace with God, Ethan,” she said, he throat closing up on the words. “His is the only forgiveness you’ll find in this life or the next.”

  She made a gesture to cut the signal.

  Jared rose from his seat. “The yacht doesn’t have battle screens. The radiation will kill him.”

  “Yes, it will.”

  The silence on the flag bridge was deafening.

  Jared nodded slowly. “I understand and I’m sorry, Kelsey. They have another half hour to change their minds. To come to their senses.”

  But they didn’t.

  A number of escape pods from both ships told her that they’d allowed those wanting to leave to depart. That made her feel a little better. Only those embracing Ethan would die.

  * * * * *

  Far too many of the crewmen on the yacht had abandoned Ethan, but Breckenridge had sent a few more trained officers over by cutter as they approached the new flip point. New York would guard the flip point to give Ethan time to sprint to Harrison’s world.

  “Transition in ten seconds, Highness,” the new help officer reported.

  “Take us over when ready.”

  The time dragged until the universe twisted. They’d flipped.

  A loud alarm blasted from the overhead speakers. Ethan covered his ears. “What is that?”

  The helm officer spun in his seat. “We’re being bombarded by heavy radiation, Highness. It’s blasting right though the hull.”

  “Are we in danger? Get us out of here.”

  “The flip capacitor is charging. I’ll flip us back as soon as I can. Highness, the dosage is high enough to be fatal in just a few minutes.”

  Ethan leaned forward, staring at the man incredulously. “How did they ever get through here? And why didn’t that idiot Breckenridge warn me?”

  He suspected this was some kind of twisted assassination plot. Breckenridge had been some kind of plant. As stupid as that sounded, he’d been in Mertz’s pocket all along. The man’s entire plan had been to trick Ethan into killing himself.

  Well, that wouldn’t work. He’d flip back to Avalon and overcome this. Somehow.

  A different alarm began sounding.

  “What now?”

  The man stared at his console for a long moment without responding. When he turned, his expression told Ethan he had bad news.

  “The flip drive has shorted out. All the systems are taking damage from the radiation. They’re trying to get it back online, but it won’t matter.” The man’s eyes were hollow. “We’re going to take a fatal dose before they’re done. We’ll be walking dead men even if they succeed.”

  Ethan swallowed noisily. “And if they don’t?”

  “I’m no doctor, but in five minutes we’ll be in excruciating pain. We’ll be throwing up and voiding from the other end as well. In fifteen minutes, we’ll be glad it was over.”

  He felt as though he could already sense the churning in his gut as the lethal radiation rotted him from the inside out.

  “Are there any other options?” he asked, his throat dry.<
br />
  “One,” the man said. “We might be able to overload the fusion plant. That would be a lot cleaner way to go.”

  “Kill that noise.”

  The silence was almost more deafening than the alarm.

  Ethan waited for the time to run out. Once it became clear that they weren’t going to make it, he nodded toward the man. “Do it. Blow up the ship.”

  The lights flickered and went out. After a moment, they came dimly back on.

  “The fusion plant just failed, Highness,” the man said. “The capacitor is less than half charged. I don’t suppose any of your people brought sidearms.”

  “My guards,” he said numbly.

  “I suggest you call one up here. We have need of his services.”

  * * * * *

  Once the yacht had flipped, Kelsey sat at one of the auxiliary stations. It was done. Only the pain remained to endure. Something she knew entirely too much about.

  New York stayed in the flip point, possibly guarding it to give Ethan more time. Breckenridge had no way to know her brother was already dying.

  Oddly, the emotions inside her were subdued. She knew what she’d done, but it didn’t feel real. Not yet.

  Twenty minutes later, just as Invincible and her escorts were coming close, New York flipped to the Nova system. Moments later, they were back. Breckenridge must have realized his mistake.

  Their exposure had been short. If he surrendered now, he’d live.

  Jared nodded to Winslow. “Signal New York to surrender.”

  Of course Breckenridge didn’t. The destroyer opened fire on Invincible. It was ridiculous. They couldn’t even get through her battle screens.

  “Return fire,” Jared said coolly.

  He’d probably meant just the superdreadnought, but all their ships fired a salvo. New York never stood a chance. She died in fire long before the massed beams of the Old Empire ships destroyed every missile had Breckenridge fired.

  Kelsey felt bad for Eliyanna Kaiser. The woman had lost her ship. Well, Jared would find something for her. Somehow, the fact all of Breckenridge’s task force was now gone made perfect sense.